Lay’Trice R. Jewell and Duong T. Huynh, both 17 and juniors at Central High School, spoke in favor of the proposed regulation during a hearing before the local health council. The council also received eight letters from students at Central, the High School of Commerce and Renaissance School, all urging passage of the new tobacco regulation.

The students are members of “The 84,” a statewide youth tobacco prevention movement. The 84 represents the 84 percent of youth in Massachusetts who choose not to smoke, according to the organization.

If passed, the Springfield regulation would affect stores ranging from the local CVS and Walgreens to other stores and supermarkets that house pharmacies, officials said. The regulation would define stores with pharmacies as “health care institutions.”

The sale of tobacco in stores with pharmacies “is incompatible with the mission of health care institutions because it is detrimental to the public health and undermines efforts to educate patients on the safe and effective use of medications,” the regulation states in part.

The Massachusetts Food Association, a trade association that represents the grocery and supermarket industry in Massachusetts, and local resident Susan J. Danton wrote letters opposing the regulation. Both stressed that tobacco is a legal product, and objected to singling out stores for the ban.

The health council will review the draft regulation and public input, and consider passage at a future meeting. The two students and David J. Wilson, tobacco control director for the Massachusetts Municipal Association, were the only ones who spoke during the hearing.

Jewell said tobacco “hits very close to home for me,” as her stepfather has tried to quit smoking in a household that also includes a 4-year-old sister and 9-year-old brother.

“Although I’m not smoking it directly, it still bothers not only myself but my younger siblings and my mother,” Jewell said. “I still have the second-hand smoke effects.”

Having cigarettes for sale in stores with pharmacies creates temptation, such as choosing between the patch to quit smoking and the nearby pack of cigarettes, Jewell said.

“It’s right in your face,” she said.

Huynh said she and other youth “support health, not death.”

The sale of tobacco in drug stores is “unethical and unconscionable,” given that they are dedicated to helping people with their health needs, but then selling a product that is harmful and contributes to death, Huynh said.

The Springfield regulation is patterned after a regulation in Boston. Boston is among 25 communities in Massachusetts that ban tobacco sales in pharmacies.

Brian Houghton, vice-president of the Massachusetts Food Association, said the proposal “unfairly targets a small percentage of outlets where legal tobacco products are sold.” Rather than protect health, it denies the sale of a legal product in some stores, “switching those sales to another establishment,” he said.